At some random street.
Ye Han is currently panting like a dog. Due to the intense temperature of the surroundings, he is now sweating bullets all over his body. "Summer sucks. I feel like being shoved inside an oven and wrapped in foil. It burns!." He forced himself to walk and find some public drinking fountain to quench his thirst.
"Finally! *pant* *pant* now let me just turn this on and sip some cold and refreshing wa- aaaaaahhhh!" When he was about to sip the water from the fountain he found it to be scalding hot. Holding his almost burnt lips he looked at the fountain feeling betrayed. "I trusted you."
However, he did not let such setbacks hold him back. He was almost at her house, maybe she can offer him some drink.
*Ringtone*
He was now in front of her door. As he was about to knock a text notification rang. He took out his phone and saw it was a message from Akari.
[I am at this address.
"Blah blah"
From: Akari]
Ye Han almost threw his phone to the ground but immediately stopped after a certain mantra resonated inside his head, 'Not Worth It, I don't want Akari to kill me.' Calming himself he tried searching for the location of the address. "Okay, let's type in, h… b….oh here's c… and done. I swear to God, this phone will be the death of me, look at how laggy it is. So, where's the pla-?!"
Ye Han was shocked, the address that she sent was a 20-minute drive from his current location. "This won't be good. I did not bring my wallet and it's almost noon, oh sh*t. Even if I did bring my wallet I won't be able to afford the fare." Ye Han is currently deliberating the lesser of two evils.
In one hand, he can forget food for the rest of the month. He might scavenge or beg some food if he takes the ride. On the other hand, a furious Akari. Well, the choice is obvious, he would rather starve. Just how much of trauma did Akari give him that he would rather starve to death than to confront her?
He took a deep breath adjusting his tired body for the marathon he will take. "Inhale, exhale. Here we, go." And with that he took off in the fastest speed he could muster, generating sonic waves as he traversed through the hot, sweltering weather.
***
"Wohoooo, we beat the boss!"
"Yeah!!!"
Loud shouts of celebration rang inside the warehouse. One would see 4 men dancing around with their hand intertwined while a single girl looking at them weirdly. They looked bizarre, seeing 4 punk looking guys acting like a bunch of kids who were given cheap candy is something not that often seen.
"You all done?" Asked Akari. The 4 paused and rapidly sat back to their chairs looking embarrassed. "Sorry about that big sis, we're just happy since we got first clear." Bat said scratching his head.
"Big… Sis?" Akari seemed confused by her new title. "Oh, it's because we respect you. You see, we have a criteria of respect and those who earn a certain amount of points will be called by a name depending on the point system."
'That's systematic.' Akari thought as she maintained a good-natured smile. But then she remembered the most crucial point of this whole ordeal. "So, why are trying on luring him here?" She tried asking normally but was met with silence. She saw that the quartet had hard expressions on their faces. "It's hard to explain." Said Chain.
Akari put on a sympathetic but inwardly she was cursing Ye Han. 'What the hell did you do to these guys Ye Han?! They look serious as hell! I can even feel the negative intent coming from them. I swear if I come out of this alive I'll wreck you.'
***
Meanwhile…
"Achooo! Who's talking sh*t about me?" Ye Han said as he narrowly dodged a person. He is currently running like his life depended on it as he evaded obstacles by obstacles.
'I need to get there fast!' He shuddered thinking of what Akari might do to him if he comes late.
***
"So, why did Mohawk left the game earlier? He looked to be doing something urgent." Akari remembered what just happened earlier while they are gaming. Mohawk suddenly had a look of worry on his face as if he forgot to turn off the stove and he's stove uses wood. "Oh, he forgot to include the address of this warehouse and just send a message saying to come here. So he texted him again using your cellphone with the address. Truly a genius." By now Pierce is wiping a single tear of pride from his eyes.
"Oh, okay. So uuuummmmm…. How should I say this…." Akari wanted to ask why their plan includes them kidnapping her. They seem to be good guys, except for Ye Han. So why would they involve her in this fiasco? "Just ask right away big sis, no need to be uncomfortable with us." Akari heaved a sigh of relieve. "So why kidnap me?"
The 4 put on a thoughtful expression until Chain decided to explain the whole situation. "We decided to follow the instructions written here." He then took a piece of folded paper handing it to Akari. "We were desperate you see. We have no other choice, we have no idea where to find him it was as if he doesn't exist at all."
'Your lifestyle is costing me things, Ye Han.' She inwardly felt furious but decided to not show. She unfolded the paper to see a 5 part plan that seemed to be written by a grade schooler.
Step 1: Kidnap Akari by slamming a hard rock on her head making her unconscious.
Step 2: Take her to this address and put on a mana restriction collar on her neck.
Step 3: Text Ye Han and make him come here.
Step 4: Wait.
Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit.
Akari just stood there with a blank look on her face restraining the urge to tear down the paper into a tiny million pieces. 'Calm down Akari, let us not question the fact that they followed this stupid plan. And again, LET US NOT QUESTION how I fell for such a "stupid" plan. But I admit, they are experts. I was not able to sense their presence until they decided to bash my head. And their actions show that they have been training for years.' She then remembered the constant headaches she is currently feeling.
But it seems that Chain could read her mind as he addressed the issue of the collar. "Just bear with the collar big sis. It was said that it's a password type so we can remove it later after this whole thing is finished."
"But, can't you just remove it? I mean, I would not even do a thing." She started lying through her teeth in an attempt to help Ye Han if they do unsavory things towards him.
"No can do big sis." Their face turned serious. Seeing them adamant on their choice despite their "previous interaction" worried her. "You have not yet achieved a certain amount of respect points in our chart, you have not yet achieved the level of being able to alter our plans. And it says here-" he took the paper off her hands. "-that we put a collar on you not take it off. You have to remember big sis that we follow our plans seriously." And each of them nodded their heads in righteousness seemingly proud of their dignity.
This time Akari facepalmed herself so hard that it made a loud and crisp sound reverberating throughout the place silencing the quartet. And suddenly, "Wow! She killed a mosquito with that slap!"
"So, cool!"
"Plus 23 respect points!"
"Oh yeah!"
'Somebody save me!'
The cheerful atmosphere was then interrupted by a loud crash. They immediately bolted towards the source of a crash only to find the body of a severely battered individual. Akari froze in her tracks seeing the severely beaten Ye Han lying down the ground. The 4 immediately helped him up and Akari followed suit. She tried asking him what happened but was interrupted by the voice of a new arrival.
"That stupid plan actually worked. Although you are strong Akari-chan but handling the students of the Tripitaka himself is too much to handle right? Well, it ain't stupid if it works." He then flashed a malicious grin and along with his other goons entered the place. "Mission accomplished."